Auburn Consolidated Industries, Inc. Acquires Great Dane

October 18, 2005

Auburn Consolidated Industries, Inc. and John Deere signed papers Thursday, September 29, 2005, entering into a strategic alliance. As part of the agreement, ACI acquired Great Dane commercial mowing equipment assets and will be moving the manufacturing of Great Dane products and the John Deere Quik-Trak product family to its Auburn, Nebraska facility. These products were previously manufactured at John Deere Turf Care near Raleigh, North Carolina.

"John Deere elected to form a strategic alliance with ACI and sell Great Dane so we can focus our engineering, manufacturing and marketing resources to the John Deere brand of commercial mowing equipment,” said John Jenkins, C & CE Division President.

"ACI’s goal is to provide a great place to work for our employees and an exceptional product for our clients. Our reputation stands true—we produce quality products and will continue to do so for years to come,” said Donna R. Skaggs, owner of ACI.

John Deere elected to partner with ACI because ACI has a proven record of success in the commercial mowing market and has been a highly regarded supplier for John Deere, previously earning partner status—the highest ranking—in John Deere’s Achieving Excellence Program.

We are confident ACI has the ability to manufacture products for John Deere that meet our stringent quality standards, as well as ensure Great Dane is a competitive ongoing player in the commercial mowing market place,” Jenkins said.

An OEM since 1926 for companies such as Honda, Kubota, Case New Holland and John Deere, ACI also manufactures EverRide commercial lawnmowers, which are sold by more than 400 dealers in the United States and Australia.